Over the last few years, I have attended several conferences in the UK and globally. I have always particularly enjoyed those with a clear country or topic focus, such as TNE in China, which I am passionate about (so I might be biased).
The Association of British Chinese Professors TNE Conference this week felt very well organised, and the whole atmosphere was very engaging.
What stood out for me was the combination of practice-informed academic research, carefully curated group discussions, workshops, and panels involving practitioners who are actually working inside UK–China TNE partnerships, including Chinese Deans from Joint Education Institutes based in the UK.
There was much less emphasis on policy, regulation or the general TNE landscape, and much more on lived experience: what it actually feels like to work across institutions, cultures, education systems and time zones, with Chinese students both in the UK and in China.
A number of themes seemed to weave through the conference.
One was the pressure points within UK–China TNE partnerships by Yanbin Lu
- Assessment & Grading Scale Alignment (For instance, under Chinese HE, students need to have academic scores after each semester, but not the same under the UK HE system. Whereas a score of 70 means a first class in the UK, it needs to be 90+ under the Chinese system.)
- Sustained Oversight & Moderation
We often focus on how partnerships (not limited to TNE) are established, signed and announced. But the more difficult question is what happens afterwards. Why do some partnerships develop into genuinely meaningful academic relationships, while others become increasingly dormant?
Grace Chen ’s session, From Agreement to Execution: Why Some TNE Partnerships Thrive While Others Become Dormant, captured this issue particularly well. Signing an agreement is only the starting point. The real work begins when institutions need to align expectations, responsibilities, academic practice, communication and resources over many years.
Another important theme was staff development. I also had the opportunity to contribute to the discussion on staff development in TNE. Staff training is increasingly recognised as important, but in practice it can still be overlooked.
UK and Chinese academic teams can easily end up working in parallel rather than truly working together. Staff may understand their own institution very well, but not necessarily the academic culture, systems, expectations and pressures faced by colleagues on the other side of the partnership.
We need more opportunities to bridge that gap. Some new initiatives are now being explored in this area, and I think this will become increasingly important as UK–China TNE continues to grow and mature.
Internationalisation of the curriculum in TNE was another interesting thread, from Dr Dunli Li and later group discussion.
There is always a tension between global and local knowledge. How much should a UK curriculum be adapted to the Chinese context? How do we make sure that students gain the value of an international education without overlooking the knowledge, industries, professional practices and social realities around them?
I do not think contextualisation means lowering standards or moving away from the identity of the UK award. It means recognising that international education works best when knowledge can travel in both directions.
The discussion around employability was also particularly valuable, jointly delivered by Sophie Xuefei Lu and Wang Wei, the CEO of East & West International Education Group .
One point came through very strongly: employability should not be treated as a separate university function that sits outside the academic experience.
It needs to be embedded into education itself: Future skills, entrepreneurship and innovation, curriculum contextualisation, employer engagement, industry projects, placements and staff development all have a role to play.
Context matters here too. For example, students studying in Shenzhen are surrounded by one of the most dynamic technology and innovation ecosystems in the world. There should be meaningful opportunities for them to engage with local industries, employers and entrepreneurial networks as part of their educational experience.
TNE employability should therefore not simply replicate what happens on a UK campus. It should connect the international curriculum with the economic and professional environment in which students are actually studying.
The Joint Education Institute Deans' panel was another highlight for me, led by Tao Chen, with Dr Daguo Li , Jiawei Wang and Zhengguo Sheng
One issue that came through very clearly was communication.
It sounds simple, but communication plays an enormous role in whether a partnership works well, and it is also extremely time-consuming, as well as being able to manage expectations from both sides.
Different organisational cultures, educational systems, decision-making processes, expectations, strategy alignment, languages and time zones all have an impact.
For colleagues in the UK who are also dealing with language barriers, different institutional structures and unfamiliar decision-making processes, the operational challenge can become even greater. And this is about much more than translation. Successful TNE requires the ability to understand context, institutional culture and often the things that are not explicitly said. Those "unspoken" expectations can be just as important as formal agreements.
Perhaps that was my biggest takeaway from the conference: Good TNE is not created through contracts alone. It depends on people who are willing to communicate, even compromise, understand different perspectives, invest in staff, adapt practice and keep the partnership active long after the agreement has been signed. This is for UK HE leaders to consider.
A very refreshing conference, and one that left me with plenty to think about as I continue my consulting work and support clients in what the next generation of UK–China TNE partnerships should look like.
#TransnationalEducation #TNE #UKChina #HigherEducation #InternationalEducation #Employability #StaffDevelopment #Curriculum #Partnerships